Matt ElliottUp now: a plan to work with MLSE to transform the Weston Lions arena into a launchpad site, replacing the seasonal ice pad with a new multi-sport facility. Some hockey leagues are unhappy about losing ice access, but other community members seem happy about the plan https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EX27.6
Councillor Holyday moves three motions:
1. Help the Lions Club with the transition
2. Expedite reports on finding replacement ice
3. Affirm general support for hockey
"I just don't think the hockey community were treated very well," says Holyday. He also thinks the Lions Club was left in an "awkward spot" as the City winds down their lease on the Weston Arena and transitions to MLSE.
Holyday says it's very important Toronto as a municipal government support hockey. "If there's no one there to help the hockey community, I don't know how they will survive."
Councillor Brad Bradford is also concerned about the "hockey community." He says hockey is a "pillar for family life in Toronto." He says Toronto should be building more rinks, not closing them.
Councillor Nunziata defends the deal and the process. "Councillor Bradford, you say you want a city of families, but what about the parents out there that can't afford to go into a program, or pay for sports? Are those youth not important to you? Or is it just the hockey that's important to you?"
"Councillor Bradford and Councillor Holyday, I represent my constituents and my youth. Obviously, you don't!" thunders Nunziata. The Weston Lions Arena is in her ward. She points out it was never a city-run facility and they charged significant money for ice access.
Councillor Burnside tires of this. He moves to skip the rest of the debate on the Weston Lions Arena and go straight to the vote. That CARRIES 19-6.
All three of Holyday's motions, including his motion to affirm Council's support for hockey, CARRY via show of hands.
Oh wait, Councillor Bradford wants a recorded vote on whether Council will affirm its support for hockey. But Perks is unhappy with the wording, since Canada actually has TWO national sports — hockey AND lacrosse. He wants a correction.
Sorry lacrosse, the wording stands. Motion to have Toronto City Council affirm its general support for the sport of hockey CARRIES 23-2.
Up now: Wait, SmartTrack? Is that still a thing? It is. Kind of. There are just three stations remaining. And a new report reveals one of them — at St. Clair & Old Weston — will be served by smaller UP Express trains, and not GO Trains as originally contemplated. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EX27.4
Answering a question from Councillor Paul Ainslie, staff say a GO Train carries about 1,200 people, while a UP Express train carries about 280. Staff also note UP is a premium service, but province has committed to an "integrated fare program" before this new station opens.
Councillor Myers: "Just so I have it clear, the city is paying $1.5 billion for these GO Train stations. Who's going to own these assets when they're complete?"
The province, says staff.
Myers: "So the City of Toronto has paid $1.5 billion to build assets for the province."
Staff confirm, yes.
The City CFO jumps in to clarify the numbers. He says the total SmartTrack budget is $1.689 billion. Of that, the city's share is $878 million. Rest comes from the federal government.
Myers: "Who brought this — was this a direction from the province to build GO Train stations? Or was this something initiated by the city?"
Staff: "This was initiated by the former mayor."
Councillor Bravo moves to have Metrolinx fully fund the widening of St. Clair Ave to improve streetcar service. She also moves to get the province to include the UP Express in the One Fare Program to make it more affordable.
Bravo calls SmartTrack a "back of the napkin" plan where "somehow, the people of Toronto were convinced that we should put municipal tax dollars, from the property tax base, to subsidize and fund a provincial transit expansion program ... just to fulfill a campaign promise by our former mayor."
Councillor Amber Morley takes an opportunity to reiterate the need for a Park Lawn GO Station. She says developers are acting like the station is a done deal and bringing dense project applications, but there is no clear understanding of when and how the station will get built.
"The province of Ontario cannot and should not be trusted to build transit and operate it in urban areas," says Councillor Perks. He says John Tory didn't learn that lesson. "These are the same guys colliding trains up on the Eglinton Crosstown right now."
"This nonsense about running the City of Toronto like a business. This is what Mayor Tory would tell us. I will tell you, you would not last very long making business deals like this," says Perks of the SmartTrack situation.
Councillor Bravo's motion to request the province integrate the UP Express with the One Fare program, making it more affordable, before this new St. Clair - Weston Station opens, CARRIES 21-1.
Bravo's motion to request the province fund the widening of St. Clair West and bundle the work in with the construction of the new station CARRIES 22-0.
Council APPROVES the change to the St. Clair & Old Weston Station, making it an UP Express Station, 20-2.
After Councillor Amber Morley notes she was able to get a "unit cap" reducing the number of units in the project, Council votes 20-1 to APPROVE a six-storey development on Islington Road. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EY26.2
Council votes 20-1 to APPROVE a 12-storey proposal for Lake Shore West. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EY26.4
Council votes 20-1 to APPROVE a 42-storey proposal for 5280 Dundas Street West. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EY26.5
After dispensing with a few minor items, Council breaks for dinner. Back at 6:30 p.m.
There are 35 items left on the agenda, which is actually pretty darn good, relatively speaking.
Council is back, but can't seem to figure out what they want to debate next. They settle on childcare. There's an update on the $10-a-day program, which asks Council to support a request for more provincial and federal funding. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EC24.1
On the childcare item, Mayor Olivia Chow moves to "identify areas of inequity" for childcare expansion.
Councillor Bravo asks for a report in Q2 2026 on breaking down the barriers to expanding childcare in high-priority wards.
The motions on the childcare item all CARRY via show of hands. So does the item as amended. The city will ask the provincial and federal governments for more funding.
Up now: the Auditor General's workplan for 2026. Councillor Jamaal Myers has been eyeing an audit on SmartTrack.
"The cost of this program is approximately $878 million. Would it be of public concern if a significant amount of that money was spent designing stations that were never built?" he asks
The AG says her mandate doesn't allow her to audit provincial programs, which SmartTrack basically is. Myers asks if she could just audit the money the city spent. She says she could consider it.
Councillor Perks and Councillor Bravo are both speaking in favour of a SmartTrack audit as part of the 2026 AG work plan. Seems like that might be less than ideal for a potential mayoral candidate.
Myers formally moves to request a SmartTrack audit in 2026. This builds on a similar motion he passed at committee, and makes a more direct request to the auditor general. (The AG is independent, though, so she can just ignore the request if she wants.)
"I think there's a lot of genuine questions about how this program came about, how money was spent, and how decisions were made. And we still don't have a clear answer. It's almost like we spent almost a billion dollars and no one can explain how we got here," says Myers of Tory's SmartTrack project
Nunziata: Councillor Fletcher, did you just call me?
Fletcher: No.
Nunziata: Oh, I thought you said, 'Oh lord.'
Late-night Council's got jokes.
Councillor Myers' motion to request a SmartTrack audit as part of the Auditor General's 2026 work plan CARRIES 16-3.
(Somewhat notable: The mayor was chatting with staff in the gallery during that vote, so she was marked as absent. She returned to the council floor right after.)
Council has been spending some time heralding a report about expanding the number of "Association of Community Centres", or AOCCs (Pronounced eh-ocks — fun acronym). They're community centres managed by private boards, like the 519 Community Centre. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EC24.2
During a discussion of this report about Toronto's "circular economy", Councillor Lily Cheng reveals she's had to replace her refrigerator three times in the last six years. That... seems like a lot. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.IE25.1
On to a progress report on Toronto's Housing Plan. Perks moves to hold off on any changes to housing programs while negotiations with Ottawa and Queen's Park continue. Morley wants to extend tower renewal program eligibility to co-ops. Thompson wants consultation with Black residents.
Part of the housing progress report, a recommendation to request the federal gov provide $163 million to create 230 supportive homes CARRIES 18-1. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.PH25.4
The other motions on the housing progress report CARRY via show of hands. So does the item as amended.
After a brief digression about a development in Holyday's ward that ends up going nowhere, Council breaks for the night. They'll be back at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow to deal with the 27 items left on the agenda.
First up: neighbourhood retail.
Council is about to start up again. Before they get to the first item on the agenda — corner stores — there will be a presentation honouring Sick Kids Hospital. They've been named "the best children’s health-care centre in the world" apparently.
Watch live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTlscTt3Jjc
City Council - November 13, 2025
"Even if you've never had to walk through its doors, you can take comfort that it's there, ready to care," says a rhyming Mayor Olivia Chow of Sick Kids Hospital. Karen Kinnear, a VP at Sick Kids, is here to get a plaque.
Councillor Paula Fletcher has a petition signed by 1,200 people asking Metrolinx to add GPS tracking to trucks working on the Ontario Line project and improve communication response times when people complain about those trucks.
Up now: corner stores. The original recommendation to allow small retail uses within neighbourhoods was watered down at committee, but the recommendation to allow retail uses along designated major streets remains. https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.PH25.3
Councillor Lily Cheng starts us off by asking about one of the recurring themes throughout this debate: a fear of pot shops everywhere. Reefer store madness. She asks if the city can limit cannabis stores. Staff say they're having conversations with province about possible additional restrictions.
Councillor Thompson asks if there's been enough consultation on this corner store item. Staff say they had pop-up events in every ward with a total of 1,300 people, a survey that received 2,600 responses, public meetings with 'several hundred" attendees, seven meetings with resident associations.
Most significant remaining change in the corner store report is adding permissions for retail along "major streets." Staff have provided maps for each ward showing what would change — retail would be permitted in the orange areas. A few examples attached. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2025/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-259945.pdf (PDF)
Providing these maps may have further complicated this debate, as now councillors are interrogating planning staff about whether certain sections should actually qualify as major streets.
Councillor Neethan Shan asks if it's true that, if council allows more retail, there won’t be any way to stop these businesses from selling alcohol and pot.
Staff say licensing processes already exist. And discussions continue re: new city powers to restrict those uses.
Seems to be some scene-setting going on for a motion to defer this until after the close of negotiations with the province re: restricting alcohol and pot uses. We'll see if that gains traction.
Deputy Mayor Malik asks if the city has received a lot of complaints about existing retail within neighbourhoods. Staff say of 1,000 neighbourhood businesses operating over last five years, 60% had no complaints, another 35% received five or less.
Councillor Dianne Saxe asks if it's true that increased retail permissions could lead to residents getting evicted and replaced by stores or restaurants.
Staff confirm a change of zoning doesn't change anything to do with current rights re: tenancy and eviction.
Councillor Dianne Saxe asks about the potential for geographically-limited permissions for corner stores. Staff say ward-based permissions are possible. "Ward-based is better than city-wide, but it's not good enough," says Saxe. She seems to favour neighbourhood-based rules.
"If I want to run a 24-hour store selling stamps, can I do that?" wonders Councillor Stephen Holyday, as a means to point out that city hall has no control over business operating hours.
Yes, staff say. (I don't think there's much demand for a 24-hour stamp store though.)
Jérôme@GraphicMatt Again adding another level of bureaucracy, god is she a pure NIMBY this one.
Justin To #НетВойне@GraphicMatt how is this even a question when variety stores sell alcohol now?
Deborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦@GraphicMatt @mayintoronto Go Matt! You are a gem 🤗.